A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, but it's the longest yet! I never realized how difficult it is to write a story with like… ten different stories in it! Wooo. Hope you enjoy everyone!
Helena sighed, crossing her arms over her stomach as she pressed farther back into her pillows, avoiding Maddiy's questioning gaze.
"I thought I'd be okay with it," she finally said after a long period of silence. Maddiy averted her gaze to the tiled floor of their dorm, her cheeks reddening slightly. "I don't know what else to say, Mads."
"It just – you can't just – I'm not okay with this, Hel!" Maddiy stared at the toes of her boots, the same ones she had worn on their first night with Theo. Nothing serious had happened that night, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't the catalyst that changed everything, that caused her current situation. After Theo had invited them in, he'd packed a bowl, and it had been her first time smoking weed. Helly inhaled and exhaled the smoke like a pro, and Maddiy had eagerly followed, not wanting to disappoint. When Helly kissed Theo, Maddiy had only watched, wide-eyed, as tongues slid against each other visibly between the two mouths. It was only when she felt fingers wrap in her hair, pulling her towards the melding mouths, that she followed Helly, her tongue colliding, inexperienced, with her best friend's and Theo's.
Helena sighed, pushing at her bed covers with her bare feet. "You didn't even like him, Mads. You only went along with it because I asked you to," Helena tried to reason, but her words came out bitter and desperate.
"How would you know?," Maddiy scoffed. "It's not like you ever asked." Helena's blue eyes opened wider, but she said nothing as Maddiy continued. "It doesn't matter anyway. I do now."
"I don't feel like sharing anymore, Maddiy." Helena's voice was small and she pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and hugging them to herself. Maddiy glared at the girl she thought was her best friend, though she was now having second thoughts.
"Too bad, Hel. You already have, and I don't plan on just giving him up now," Maddiy said, her voice the same low octave. "I don't care if you don't want to share. I'll go at it alone."
Emilie let out a high-pitched squeal, hopping off of her bed and wrapping her arms tightly around Claire's neck. She continued to squeal happily, this time bouncing on her toes. Her thin fingers grasping at Emilie's wrist, Claire gagged theatrically.
"Too tight, Em," she croaked and Emilie only giggled, giving Claire one more squeeze before releasing her from her death grip.
"Guess who just texted me, Claire?," Emilie asked breathlessly, and not bothering to wait for an answer, shouted, "Blaise!"
Claire mustered up a weak smile. "Hooray," she said in what she hoped was a playful voice, twirling her pointer finger around in a circle in the air. Emilie rolled her eyes, but didn't stop grinning.
"It says: 'Hey, been up to much?'. Oh my God, Claire. What should I say back?" Panicking, Emilie went back to her bed, flopping down on it hopelessly. "What do you think he means? Like, does he mean what have I been doing literally, or have I been going out and talking to other guys? Claire. Why are boys so confusing?"
Fingers frozen over her laptop keyboard, Claire only smirked. She was glad she never had this much trouble replying to Blaise's texts, or even talking to him. Granted, neither of those things happened very often at all, but at least it was easier for her.
"I think, Em, he probably wants to know what you've been doing lately. You know, schoolwork, art class, that kinda thing. That's just a guess though." Emilie sighed tiredly, flipping her touch-screen phone open again.
"Claire, I love you to bits, but you're not exactly that experienced with guys. So I'll just tell him that I've been hanging out with Justin a lot lately."
"Back again, Weasley?," Abby teased, coming up behind Fred and looping her arm through his. "Wow, this is twice in one week. You're up to something, aren't you?" Fred grinned and Abby felt a small, unwanted yet not unfamiliar flutter in her stomach.
"Nah, just didn't get what I needed taken care of, taken care of last time," he said with a sigh, his smile fading. He yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth in the comfortable company. "I heard some very interesting things from Ron, however. On live radio? Even I couldn't have managed that one."
Frowning at the memory, Abby let her arm slide from Fred's. She'd been doing so well at forgetting; she couldn't be too angry at him for bringing it up, however, as he didn't know any better.
"Yeah," she said after a moment's silence. "It, uhm, well, it really sucks." She scratched the back of her neck, looking away from him. Fred nodded and chuckled sadly.
"I can only imagine," he said, flattening his hair with one hand. "I mean, I didn't think Lee was the type, you know? We've been mates since forever, practically, and I never would've thought… well, I guess this just goes to show that you never really know anyone."
"How true." Abby sighed, finding that she was becoming more and more eager to get away from Fred as the seconds wore on. Because of both the feelings in her stomach, and the feelings in her heart.
"Well, I wouldn't be a gentleman if I didn't offer my services in executing revenge against the girl and Lee," Fred said with a hesitant smile, hoping he hadn't dug himself into too deep a hole.
Abby smiled, one of the few times she had in the last few days. "What did you have in mind, Mr. Weasley?"
"You have white stuff all over your nose," Andy said bluntly as he stared at Becca's outstretched hand, not shaking it like intended.
"I- what?" Becca clapped both of her hands over her nose, hoping she'd covered up whatever it was that the boy was talking about. "Is it gone?," she asked in a muffled, contorted voice.
Andy snorted. "No, it's not gone. You just covered it up with your hands. That doesn't make it go away." Flushing bright red, Becca turned around to face away from Andy, wiping her nose on her shirt sleeve hurriedly.
"Now?," she asked, turning around, one hand held by her face for a quicker shield. Andy shook his head and Becca moaned miserably, covering her nose again. "I don't even know what it is…" She'd only just met Andy and already she was embarrassing herself horribly.
"Well if we're going entirely on looks, it looks like you snorted some powdered doughnuts. Or cocaine." He shrugged. "I'd tell people it was doughnuts, if I were you." Becca's eyes went from innocently embarrassed to murderous in 2.8 seconds.
"My roommate…," she growled, wiping her nose once more.
"Geeze, what is it with everyone and their roommates?," Andy mused to himself, looking at Becca warily. "It must just be the girls. Dean's a really cool guy, actually-"
"You don't understand," Becca butt in. "My roommate is the junkie from hell. She's been trying to ruin my life ever since I kicked her naked dealer out of our dorm." Andy blinked, his brows furrowing into confusion before smoothing out to normal.
"I should've just stayed at Salem," he murmured to himself, walking away.
"Fred! I've heard you've been here twice and haven't come to see me," Audrey spoke into her phone on her way back to the dorms. She crossed the green slowly, her turquoise moccasins flattening the dewy grass. "What's up?"
She heard a sigh on the other end of the line and knew that this wasn't their usual phone call. "Fred? Is everything okay? I don't think – I haven't done something to upset you, have I?"
"No, no," Fred said hurriedly and Audrey frowned at the constrained tone in his voice. "I… I, uhm, I couldn't do this in person."
"Do what?" Audrey felt her heart plummet to somewhere near her feet, her palms sweating. She swallowed hard. She blinked. He didn't even sound like himself. "What, Fred?"
"Audrey, I think we should… take a break. It's really hard to say it, but I think it's what would be best for us. We're just – We're just at different stages in life right now. You're still in school, and you're still out another year. I'm running a business and taking University classes. We're just too different for things to work right now." He took a breath. "I never thought five years would be such a gap, but I guess I was wrong."
Audrey felt like someone had taken her heart, squeezing it hard in their fingers until it constricted painfully, cutting off blood circulation to her head. She felt dizzy and breathless and thought maybe she was just having a really awful dream. Pinching her arm, tears stung her eyes when she realized that she was awake, and had been the entire time.
"You don't- you can't really mean that, Fred," Audrey spoke quietly into the receiver of her cell phone, standing completely still in the middle of the green. "It's been seven months. We can… we can make it work, we've been doing alright so far."
"Audrey, I wouldn't be saying this if I thought there was still something there for us. You're not going to magically age five years, and I'm not going to magically lose five. It's not something we can control, it's just how things are."
Her phone slipped from her fingers, landing with a dull thud on the wet grass. She heard Fred's faraway voice calling her name, asking her if she was still there. Ignoring it, she looked up at the blackening sky and cried.
Railey slid another quarter into the slot on the washing machine, hoisting herself on top of it when it began, clunking loudly as it washed her clothes. She closed her eyes momentarily, though she wished she hadn't when she opened them and found Theo, loading his dirty clothes into the washer next to hers. Theo met her gaze awkwardly, undecided on whether to ignore her or speak.
"Your favourites," he said lightly, holding up a pair of boxers printed with miniature Cat-In-The-Hats. Railey nodded, saying nothing in return. He should've just ignored her.
"How's the threesome?," she asked snidely, feigning interest.
"There isn't one," Theo said calmly, keeping the growl out of his voice.
"Uh-oh, did somebody get a wittle jealous?," she asked sarcastically. Theo slammed the lid of the washer closed and Railey jumped visibly.
"The only jealous person I know is you, Rai," Theo said, picking up his laundry and holding it under his arm. "And it's really getting old."
Grabbing him by the collar of his white tee shirt, Railey forced Theo close to her, eye-level for once. "You're wrong," she spat out quietly. "I'll never be jealous of your little whores, Theo. You know why? Because I'm the best you've ever fucking had." He could feel her short pants of breath brushing across his lips. It was only seconds before he closed the distance, kissing her so intensely that she moved back against the wall, her fingers bunched in his shirt, forcing him closer.
Kat couldn't help but smile slightly as she found herself, once again, one step above Draco in the stairwell leading up to their dorms. He returned her smile, although his was a broad, victorious grin.
"We won." His grin widened and Kat noticed he was still in his uniform, covered in mud and grass stains but seemingly oblivious to this fact.
"I know, I was there," she replied, rolling her eyes. "And before you go on to brag about it, I saw the goal you scored." Draco smirked proudly and Kat noticed the smudge of dried mud on his jaw. "You're disgusting. You've got mud right-." He caught her wrist in his long fingers, the tips of hers barely brushing against his cheek. She stared at him and he stared at her for what could've been ten seconds or a million years. Kat wasn't sure; she wasn't counting.
His cool, grey eyes glanced down at her full lips and her eyes widened in anticipation of what undoubtedly was coming. When he did kiss her, it was with so much pent-up force that their teeth knocked together and she thought she might trip up the stairs. She held onto him to keep from falling, from either the force or lack of oxygen to her brain. Not that she was complaining about either. The kiss lasted for what could've been ten seconds or a million years.
Kat wasn't sure; she wasn't counting.
"Nice single," a strange boy sneered at Aly as she walked down the hall. She frowned, sticking her tongue out of him and continuing towards her dorm. What the hell was that supposed to mean.
"Have you heard? You've made the Billboard Hot 100," a girl she'd only seen, maybe, once before said as she opened the door to the Gryffindor House.
"It could use some better cover art," another girl added as Aly walked through the Commons. The girl held up a CD and Aly rubbed her eyes, not sure what she was seeing. Was that… was that her?
Obviously not, as the body was that of a porn star, unnaturally busty and round. But the face on the body was hers, grinning in what looked like last year's school photo. Why was she on the cover of a CD case, photo-manipulated onto the body of a twenty-four year old video girl?
"Parvati," Aly hissed, and the pretty Indian girl looked up from where she was studying a copy of i-D in an armchair. "Can you explain this?" Aly reached out and tore the CD from the younger girl's grasp. Gasping in surprise, the underclassmen stood up and scurried out of the room.
"You mean you haven't heard?," Parvati asked distractedly, flipping the page. "It's your debut album."
"Uh, I've never recorded anything, Parvati." Aly looked at the brown-eyed girl as if she were crazy, or just really stupid.
"Yes, you have, silly," Parvati said, her kind tone a façade. "One evening, on the radio, with a D.A. who shall remain nameless? Everything that goes through the school's station is recorded."
Aly thought she might throw up. "You mean-?"
"Yep," Parvati said with a smile, standing up and closing her magazine. "You and Lee, set to different background music. There's even one for the holidays. It's 'Jingle Bells'."
"You've got some nerve!" Sara winced as she felt a handful of short, brown hair being pulled away from her scalp. "I mean, attacking my boyfriend once is nerve enough, but locking him up in a broom closet? Do you have a death wish?"
Every eye in the cafeteria was on Ginny and Sara, watching, waiting. Or in Blaise's case, cat-calling to instigate the girls into physical contact. Just as Sara made a motion to stand, she felt a large hand on her shoulder, forcing her back down into her seat. Ginny's hand was then extracted from her hair, and when she turned around she saw Professor Snape pinning Ginny's arms behind her back.
"Enough of this, Miss Weasley. I believe your anger-management problem calls for a visit to the Headmaster's office, don't you think? For a scholarship student, you really are rather rowdy." Sara watched as Ginny was led from the dining hall, red-faced and seething.
Sara felt warm breath against the lobe of her ear and she froze.
"Victory celebration, my dorm, tonight."
"Oh… oh God," Claire panted, pushing her straight, dirty blonde hair away from her face and neck, where it was sticking with sweat. Blaise moved off of her, rolling onto his back. He groaned, exhaling harshly.
"Feel any better, tesora?," he asked smugly, looking over at Claire with a smirk. Her eyes were closed and her modest chest was heaving. She nodded in response, her throat too dry for words. "I told you, you don't need to worry about her," Blaise continued, rolling onto his side, his fingers drawing patterns on her bare stomach. "Texting doesn't mean anything. We're just friends, okay?" Claire nodded again, opening her eyes to look at him, studying his handsome face slowly.
Sex with Blaise: one more thing to add to the list of what she had over Emilie.